Thursday, February 09, 2006

fièvre de fevrier

It's never too late for the weekend update!

I was so, so looking forward to last friday because Ms. Fabulousa herself, Chai, was in town! Using a mash-up of CitySearch, eVite, and OpenTable, we managed to scheme and plot our way into an 8 pm reservation at Lime, accompanied by the divine brimful, ads, and Yasmine. I know, right?

I love SF just as it is, but I can't wait until I have my very own parking space there because I'm sick of leaving myself 1/2 hour to park, finally finding the public parking garage, and ... being turned away! The car in front of me was allowed in, but apparently, no parking for me. I've always been punctual/early, and now I'm always at least 5 minutes late. Anyway, moving on.

Lime was too cool for me. That's not to say I didn't like the space (all mod furniture, and mini-flatscreens embedded in the bar, and apparently....the bathroom?), or that the people weren't friendly (as I was rushing to the table, a diner stopped me to hand me a little red dress pin) - I'm just surprised alarm bells didn't go off as I entered. "WARNING: NOT COOL ENOUGH! WARNING: NOT HIPSTER QUALIFIED!"

Quite the commute for dinner! ads had taken her crystal coach/pumpkin out from Berkeley, Yasmine drove in from Walnut Creek (!!!), Chai was visiting from the D of C, and I had driven up from la Vallée de Silicium. Oh yeah, and brimful wandered over from the Mission - I'm kidding, I'm kidding!

One thing about Lime: it's a little loud. No, actually, it's a lot loud. Imagine eating dinner in a nightclub. (As if I just used the word "nightclub.") It took a while for us to shout our food preferences and restrictions at each other, but we managed to order. I'm a huge fan of tapas - I love being able to try different foods, and I like the intimacy of sharing food with people I enjoy. The food at Lime was good! My expectations may have been lowered somewhat by the "nightclub" atmosphere, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised. From a Turkish coffee cup of tomato soup with little grilled white cheese sandwiches, to zucchini frites - the food was the yum.

Funniest convo of the night:

maisnon [observing two guys speaking in sign language at the bar] Guys, is it weird that I kinda think sign language is hot?brimful: YES!ads: ... maybe it's like an accent?

Chai came up with a well-reasoned explanation as to why I think it's hot, but maybe brimful is right on this one.

We bid adieu to Yasmine, and headed to the Bagdad Cafe for some sweetness. Mmmm...coconut cake and conversation. The group lost another member (brimful), and the remaining three headed to SJM's for a pah-tee.

The party was a swarm of people and I felt myself teetering on the edge of social phobia (i.e. my penchant for grabbing a drink and finding a quiet place to just observe. Not that this is a bad thing.) Out of nowhere, someone I haven't seen since October came up and gave me a huge hug. Another hug from SJM himself, a quick chat with Roops, and then I was headed across the room to greet P. Escobar. He saw me coming and was making hug-shaped arms while he continued chatting with someone.

This series of events really, really touched me. It was my Norm from Cheers moment. I felt, and feel, really at home in the SF area. I have met so many interesting, sympatico people and they have welcomed me into their lives. I drove home listening to Chet Baker's "Moon Love" and agreeing completely.

7 comments:

Every time you mention something about social phobia, it never fails to surprise me- I suppose because, if you are considered in any way phobic, I must be a shut-in of Howard Hughes-proportions. ;) But I am SO happy to read of SF giving you the warm fuzzies.

P.S: Oh yeah, and brimful wandered over from the Mission...ummm, I resemble that remark. :)

I thought I was the only one feeling kind of "social-phobic" that evening. =) Still, you definitely weren't the only one looking forward to last Friday, and I'm so glad I had a chance to meet you all. Thanks for a lovely evening. =)

I forgot to ask about the significance of those red pins. I think you and brimful were both wearing 'em?

I already miss the Lime food. And, oh! - I threw a slightly-random statistic into a recent weblog post, and then I kept second-guessing it all day along and laughing because it reminded me of your statistics-related conversation with your dad. "There's a difference!" hahaha

yasmine: The little red dress pins were from the American Heart Association, and are related to women's heart health. Heart disease is th leading cause of death in women (more so than the next 6 put together!) Hmm, that was a downer!

Re: sign language - how helpful would that have been in trying to talk to each other?

terence: The restaurants that I have tried so far in SF that I really liked are Medjool and La Provence

brimful: My social phobia is like ... my lactose intolerance. (HA! Didn't expect THAT did you?) What I mean is that I can have some, and then all of a sudden it is too much for me. And the amount that it takes to send me over the edge is unpredictable.